by Queenie Kroh, Illustrator, SF

About

Who are you?
My name is Queenie and I was born in Hong Kong, grew up in San Francisco, and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. I am an illustrator and graphic designer who can’t stop thinking up characters who are more and more ridiculous like SuperJuicyChicken, The Fantastic Toast and his trusty sidekick, Pat O’Butter. I am also so very lucky to be a mother of two amazing children who I love to have adventures with everyday. I love to draw and making things as much as possible. I am a big fan of letterpress, pattern designs, Miffy, Hello Kitty, food, and bunnies. And also, I really like vacuums because I am a super clean freak.

What inspires you?
My inspiration comes from my everyday life and my mixed-up imagination. My kids have been a great inspiration because they make my make believe world a little more real. I grew up with Japanese animation and it gives me much inspiration. Some of my favorites are My Neighbor Totoro, Doraemon, Dr Slump and Anpanman. I also like Japanese artists like Yoshimoto Nara and Shinzi Katoh. What else? How about Dick Bruna and FriendsWithYou!

My inspiration also comes from my everyday life and the adventures of all my human friends. I love to draw and my pictures will make your eyeballs so happy when you look at them!

What did you eat for breakfast?
The leftovers of whatever my kids didn’t finish. I wish I could tell you that I had some freshly made bread with a cup of hot coffee and a bowl of fruit and some chocolate. I can’t do that because that would be a horrible lie and a wonderful dream.

What’s going on?
SuperJuicyChicken plush is still on sale out there in the world. I’m interested in branding/licensing work and always looking for some fun collaboration work. I really see the potential of my work and believe in it. As a mother of two, I want to be able to continue to be a stay at home mom and spread my work around so everyone can feel all the bubbly hearts that I feel when I share my drawings with planet Earth. I am also a big fan of pattern design and I have been exploring this route with my work and would love to see my work on bags, wallpapers, stationery, beddings, socks, kitchen ware and pretty much everything that needs non human skin.

What’s your other dreamy goal?
I hope to have my very own letterpress studio and then I can do all my work with the letterpress so you can truly feel the characters with your fingertips and touch the cuteness all around. It’s about time you let your fingers be happy for real! And also because my son is visually impaired, it would be double awsome to be able to make my illustrations so that he can feel them with his fingers!

How do you do it?
I do most of my work digitally, but my doodles can be found everywhere that a pen is allowed or whenever I am doing sidewalk chalk drawing with my kids or face/arm painting on them.

What’s always* inside my bag?

My all time favorite Orla Kiely wallet

Tempo (it’s my favorite tissue brand)

WetOnes

sparkly Lip Smacker

hand lotion

MUJI pen

Keys

my son’s EPIPEN, an empty contact case for my son’s eye prosthesis in case I need to take it out, my daughter’s hearing aid case in case I need to take it out. And all this is placed inside my MUJI nylon mesh mini bag

work cell phone

kids extra clothes in a MUJI extra small mesh garment bag

Baggu elephant print reuseable bag

Small Moleskine notebook for emergency ideas and doodles

Mints

*on rare occasions when I am sans kids then all the kid stuff would be removed and my choice of bag becomes a wider range and one of my all time favorite is my horse print Marimekko. *